On the side skirts: being doing some research on polypropylene adhesives.

What makes PP great for body mouldings (inert; water resistant; high melting point - 160 degC) makes it bad for adhesive repairs.

Recommendations I've seen so far: either a hot glue method with a 200 degC gun and some specific PP adhesive; or a 2 part superglue kit from Loctite comprising an "activator" material applied to the PP surface first, followed by what seems to be regular cyanoacrylate superglue.

Has anyone tried either of these methods?

SteveG: you suggested sikaflex - what took you that route, and was it effective?

SteveG: you suggested sikaflex - what took you that route, and was it effective?

Seemed to be ok in 'normal' use; if someone drives into it with enough force to dent the sill, then not all good. I was never 100% confident where the 'top' had split away from the side, and this is what broke again. Where the bottom split away and I glued an angle piece, it survived.

Just to try something new, I'm going to refit the replacement s/h caliper using the pads that came with it plus the slider pins and the fresh rubber grommets for the pins that came with the piston/seal kit. That way, everything will be different from the original setup.

I want to get it MoT tested to see what else needs doing aside from the floorpan repairs - but I'm not going to shoot myself in the foot with items that are obviously not right...

Well, despite my ongoing brake issues I decided to get the 145 in for an MoT today to see what else needs doing.

Pleasingly there were no major surprises. And the emissions were really good - 0.1% CO and just 19ppm HC!!!

Regarding the fails, I was expecting these:

- repair rust on floorpan o/s + n/s- replace deteriorated dust covers on lower arm balljoints o/s + n/s- rear tire fitted wrong way round (assymetric tread - so just need to swap with one from the other side of the car)

None of these are showstoppers so I'm getting quotes for the welding. Switching the rear tyres is easy, and I have some replacement dustcaps for the steering balljoints (the bushes are good, so I won't replace the lower arms unless I have to).

I hadn't considered that, tbh, because there is no shimmy or vibration through the brakes - even when hitting them really hard.

I'm running out of ideas as to how to fix this - having switched the pads, the caliper, the caliper pins and the caliper mounting bracket, the brake at that corner keeps on binding. Visually there is no obvious runout on the disc when rotating it by hand. And if, while the car has been standing for the last 8 years, some rusting process had pushed the disc so it's no longer flush with the hub flange then that would result in an obvious vibration, surely?

One odd thing I'd noticed is, it's very difficult to retract the piston with the caliper fitted (see my broken G-clamp pic previously for evidence of this). Yet, when I removed the caliper last time to swap it out, the piston pushed in very easily once the caliper was disconnected from the hydraulic line.

So - could this mean there is some kind of blocked valve preventing fluid from being pushed out of the caliper? If so, where would this be - in the ABS unit?

Well, despite my ongoing brake issues I decided to get the 145 in for an MoT today to see what else needs doing.

Pleasingly there were no major surprises. And the emissions were really good - 0.1% CO and just 19ppm HC!!!

Regarding the fails, I was expecting these:

- repair rust on floorpan o/s + n/s- replace deteriorated dust covers on lower arm balljoints o/s + n/s- rear tire fitted wrong way round (assymetric tread - so just need to swap with one from the other side of the car)

None of these are showstoppers so I'm getting quotes for the welding. Switching the rear tyres is easy, and I have some replacement dustcaps for the steering balljoints (the bushes are good, so I won't replace the lower arms unless I have to).

So, onwards!

I had those holes myself on both sides. I welded (first ever go at welding!) using a wire welder from Lidl. I figured that the sill covers would hide my messy work, but turned out ok in the end. Did the MOT tester remove the covers as I can't see how else they would have spotted them? Also, is that some sort of plastic cover underneath over the jacking point (looks like screw in the floor pan). I don't recognise anything like that on mine.

£650 is okay I think for two or three different sites, all in one hit. See what you get as a comparison quote...

I was thinking about your headlamp- it's going to be worth taking that apart; that adjuster has obviously broken in-situ, preventing further travel on the lens, I would say.

Can you see the screw with a washer next to the round hole? Isn't it holding a plastic guard or something? I've just checked mine and I don't have a screw there, just a second small hole in the jacking support. I had to fix both my headlights following some instructions I found on this forum. Used some threaded bolts to replace the plastic adjusters with some wing nuts stuck to the end to replace the broken little gears.

I had those holes myself on both sides. I welded (first ever go at welding!) using a wire welder from Lidl. I figured that the sill covers would hide my messy work, but turned out ok in the end. Did the MOT tester remove the covers as I can't see how else they would have spotted them? Also, is that some sort of plastic cover underneath over the jacking point (looks like screw in the floor pan). I don't recognise anything like that on mine.

I'd removed the sill covers myself - wanted to know what was lurking behind them; but that hole was the only issue.

Which plastic cover do you mean - not the white one (which is for one of the retaining screws for the sill trim panel)?

QUOTE(dante giacosa @ 28th June 2018 08:27)

I don't see a plastic cover there, VROOM

I think it's just well undersealed & smooth at that point...

£650 is okay I think for two or three different sites, all in one hit. See what you get as a comparison quote...

I was thinking about your headlamp- it's going to be worth taking that apart; that adjuster has obviously broken in-situ, preventing further travel on the lens, I would say.

On the welding quote - I got the distinct impression that the welder was not interested in the job and threw in a quote for a whole day's work just to put me off... maybe it's time to learn how to weld myself!

Just got quoted £650 for the welding by the garage next to the MoT test station. That feels like too much... will get some more prices...

Just got a second quote for welding from another local outfit - never used them, but they have a great reputation - for £250 + VAT for the two floorpan sections. This is for cutting out the rusty sections and replacing. So, booked in for next Friday...

Stripping out the carpet was easier than I expected - you can do this without removing the lower dash:

Front seats, rear passenger air vents and centre console removed:

Rear seats out:

Remove sill trims around door, triangular trim pieces either side of the dashboard, and out comes the carpet:

Leaving this behind:

All the bits (bar the front seats) fit in the boot!

So now I'm getting to work stripping back the soundproofing and wire-brushing back to clean metal for the welders to do their work:

So now I have a couple of questions. The soundproofing on the floor of my car is comprised of two parts. On top is a plastic/rubber mat with fibrous sound insulation underneath it. On the front footwells, the plastic/rubber top surface has cracked (as per the picture above) and the fibrous material has disintegrated. However - it's easy enough to pick this all up for disposal. The rear footwell mat is fine and will be re-used as is.

Beneath the mat is a black, sticky bituminous layer approx 5mm thick. This is going to take some shifting - I've been levering it off in small chunks using a flat-bladed screwdriver but I'm hoping I won't need to remove it all prior to welding as it's heavy going.

So the questions:

1) What shall I use to replace the sound insulating "mat" in the front footwells, given it's not reusable? Any recommendations?

2) Any tips for removing the black, sticky lower layer? The guides on here don't have much advice beyond hacking it out...

They don't have the vane along the back that is crucial to the correct alignment of the headlamp; also they're a little short. Close, but no cigar. Avoid!

I also found some 3D-printed adjusters that I've ordered and not yet received - a bit pricier at 30 euro.

2) Repair the adjusters... there have been a few posts on this subject, but given the specific damage to mine, I went looking for materials to replace the broken necks of my adjusters. Here's what I found:

These are 5mm diameter fluted dowels that fit neatly into the main body of the adjuster.

There is a small hole in the ball of the joint, so after a bit if whittling and sanding I ended up with these:

I then mixed up some epoxy resin to glue it all together:

Once it's set, I'll cut the broken stem off the ball and we should be good to go.

I used a fairly blunt chisel to remove the bitumen layer on mine, I removed it all but it is hard going. Once removed I primed and sprayed the floor for extra protection, then used the self adhesive sound pads to replace the bitumen. Heat the sound pads with a heat gun and they go in a treat.I used felt and crumb rubber carpet underlay to replace the other stuff. Ive used this on several cars and again it works well.Hope this is of use.